Programmings Archive | Page 3 of 119

Hips & Shoulders: June 14

It’s Monday and that means one thing, it time to get our butts in gear! To do this we need to make sure our hip external rotators, specifically our glutes and piriformis muscles are not tight and able to move the way they should move. Have you ever heard of piriformis syndrome? This is where your piriformis is so tight that it compresses your sciatic nerve, which then causes numbness and tingling down your leg. Not good! Let’s give your gluteus and piriformic muscles some love today!

Equipment needed: 1. Mobility ball or lacrosse ball. 2. Padded Mat (optional). Today is all about the glutes! We are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of hips and shoulders.

We are starting off with a gluteus muscle/fascia release technique. Next we are working on end-range stretch isometrics for your glutes and piriformis muscles. The key is to stretch your glutes out as much as possible and then start to contract them. We are finishing up with a hip, core, and shoulder movement. This can be challenging with a straight leg, so if you are struggling, try keeping your knee bent. Your goal is to lift your leg and arm as high as you can.

Keep up the good work! You are getting that much better everyday with every routine. Take some time out today to be conscious of how better you are moving throughout your day and/or in the gym.

Flow: June 13

Happy Sunday! Wolf is Flow spelled backwards. It’s time to unleash your inner wolf with today’s flow routine. Just like a wolf you are going to move your body in multiple different ways and shapes and explore the possibilities in each of your joints. Creating movement variability in different movement patterns such as rotation is key to being a proficient moving human. Have fun today!

Flow day – Equipment needed: 1. Padded mat (optional). Today is a flow day!

Hips & Ankles: June 12

Saturday is in full effect! Of all the things you can be doing on your Saturday, you chose to hang out with us and give your body the maintenance that it needs. Hats off to you! Or better yet, curtsy lunge to you my friend. Have fun today!

Equipment needed: 1. Padded Mat. A shortie, but a goodie today! Today is all about end-range stretch activation for your hip flexors and front of your ankles. Your hips and ankles will be fully activated by the end of this routine. We are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of your hips and ankles.

We are starting off with an end-range stretch activation technique for the front of your ankles and then moving on to a similar position for the front of your hips. In both of these positions focus on feeling your muscles contract and activate them while they are being stretched out. Focus on driving your back leg into the ground while your front leg stays nice and stable for support. These positions can be very challenging balance wise. Hold on to a chair, or wall if you are having difficulty balancing.

Neck & Shoulders: June 11

Welcome back! One of the biggest complaints that I heard over the past year was neck and upper back pain. This is an obvious one because everyone was working from home in even more sub optimal positions than if they were at the office. This usually looks like: sunk into your couch, with the laptop on the lap, and back and neck hunched forward. Hopefully this wasn’t you. But if it was/is, no worries, Movement Vault to the rescue with today’s neck focused routine.

Question: do you want other educational content outside of routines such as videos talking about posture, working positions, breathe work, etc? Let me know what you would like to learn. Message us/me on Facebook, Instagram, or using the chat icon on the corner of the screen, or emailing me directly at grayson@movementvault.com

Equipment needed: 1. Mobility ball or lacrosse ball. 2. Padded Mat (optional). Today’s routine is a great for all of you desk warriors out there! Today we are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of the neck and shoulders.

We are starting out with a muscle/fascia release for your levator scapulae and traps, which are the muscles located on your upper back that attach into your neck. These are the muscles that almost everyone has “knots” in. We are then moving on to a 3-way neck stretch. Be relatively gentle here, and try not to “yank” your neck too hard. We are then moving on to reverse snow angels. For this movement, focus on slow and controlled movement and try to bring your shoulders and shoulder blades through their full range of motion. We are finally finishing up with a neck full range of motion technique. Do your best to explore all of your range of motion in your neck. If you have any painful areas, avoid these areas, and just complete the circle in your pain free areas. Have fun and stay consistent.

Flow: June 10

Have you ever thought deeply about human movement? As you can imagine, I have. Here is a little slice. Humans have evolved over many, many thousands of years. During most of this time, if you didn’t move often, you simply didn’t survive. Fast forward to the last 100 years and now we have technology to do almost anything and everything for us, which is pretty spectacular. Our body doesn’t think so however. Humans and more precise Homo Sapiens have evolved to move. This is engrained in our DNA. When we abruptly stop what we have been doing for tens and even hundreds of thousands of years, our biology is very confused and not very happy. Long story short, most humans don’t get in enough movement and enough varied movement. Varied movement is the key here. So what do we do, throw out our laptops, cars, and plush couches? Of course not, these things are amazing. What we need to do is counterbalance the lack of movement with specific and controlled movement, and muscle activation. This is exactly what you do everyday here at Movement Vault. It’s go time you awesome Homo Sapien!

Equipment needed: 1. Padded mat. Today is a flow day!

Upper Back & Wrists: June 9

You’re back and we are happy to see you! I and the Movement Vault appreciate each and everyone of you. Did you know that we have MV users in over 50 countries all over the world? And just think, we are just getting started with big things on the horizon.

The desk situation that most of the world faces every morning can lead to a lot of joint disfunction over time. Two of these areas of the body are your upper back and wrists. Guess what areas of the body we are optimizing today? You guessed it. It’s go time!

Equipment needed: 1. Foam Roller. 2. Padded Mat (optional). Today we are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of your t-spine aka your upper back, and wrists. We are starting out with a joint mobilization and muscle activation to improve your upper back rotation. Focus on trying to keep both sides of the middle of your spine in contact with the foam roller the entire time while rotating. Next, we are working on a very effective stretch and activation for your upper back and core muscles. Focus on rotating as far as possible in each direction. Really put that extra effort in to this one. Next, we are working on moving your wrist through your absolute full range of motion. Try to move through every available pain free millimeter of range of motion that you have. We are finishing up with an end-range stretch isometric technique to stretch out and activate your wrist muscles. Make sure to stretch out your wrists as much as possible before activating your wrist muscles. It is important that you don’t have a pinching or wrist pain in the front of your wrists. If you do, don’t stretch your wrist out as much.

Hip, Back & Shoulders (MV mini): June 8

Double high five! Today we have another preview of our Movement Vault Mini routines which are short 5-8 minute routines that you can get in at anytime, anywhere, that don’t require the normal 10-20 minutes. These routines are great when you just can’t find the time to perform a typical length routine. You guys asked for it and we are delivering. We get that life gets in the way sometimes. Don’t let life get in the way too often though, as you always have an extra 5 minutes to dedicate to the health and longevity of your joints.

Let me know what you think of the Movement Vault Mini’s by emailing me directly at grayson@movementvault.com, using the chat widget in the bottom corner to send us a message or sending us a message on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter @movementvault.

Equipment Needed: 1) Padded Mat (Optional) Today we are working on the flexibility, stability, and mobility of your shoulders, hips, and back.

Hips: June 7

It’s Monday and it’s go time! You know what they say, Mondays are international chest and tri-day. For us though, Monday is all about optimizing your almighty hip flexors. We all have a love and hate relationship with our hip flexors and the active couch stretch. This is for good reason. I have yet to meet a person that hasn’t benefited from this active stretch variation. Let’s go!

Equipment needed: 1. Foam Roller or if you don’t have a foam roller you can use your own hands for a skin rolling muscle/fascia release technique. 2. Box, or a bench, or your couch. 3. Padded Mat. Today is all about your hip flexors. Most of you spend way too much time sitting. Your hip flexors are one of the muscles that can get very tight and weak due to all of this accumulated time sitting. We are going to fix your hip flexors today!

Today we are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of your hips. We are starting off with a muscle / fascia release for your entire quadricep muscle group which is the muscles located on the front of your thigh. You have the option of using a foam roller or using your hands and performing a skin rolling technique. To perform the skin rolling, think of pinching a piece of your skin and then rolling upward and downward on your quadricep muscles. This can feel a little weird, but it is very effective.

We are finishing up with one of the most effective active hip flexor stretches you can do. This is an end-range stretch isometric technique. Make sure to pad your bottom knee. If you are unable to get into the lunge position, keep your front knee on the ground. If it is hard to get into the modified position, try lying on the ground and putting your back leg up against the couch. This one can be uncomfortable. This is normal. Have fun!

Flow: June 6

Welcome back! It’s Sunday, and I know you have things to do. With that, do you have any questions about this routine or anything pertaining to Movement Vault, etc? You can contact me directly at grayson@movementvault.com. We have some big things on the relative horizon and you will know soon enough. Have fun!

Flow day! Equipment needed: 1. Padded mat. Today is a flow day!

Full Body (70 min): June 5

Welcome back! This is a longer MV routine, but don’t be intimidated by the time needed. If you can’t perform the entire routine, no worries, just perform what you can, and place the rest in the fridge for later. MV leftovers are the best, right! FYI the muscle/fascia release techniques are in the beginning, followed by the active stretches and muscle activation, followed by a nice little flow at the end. Enjoy!

Equipment needed: 1. Mobility ball or lacrosse ball. 2. Stretch strap or long band or belt or towel if it is difficult for you to reach back and grab your back leg in a lunge position. 3. Padded Mat. Today is a special edition Movement Vault long routine that was shot live in CrossFit Kingsboro in Brooklyn, NY. We are working on just about every area of your body today! We are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of your neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, hips, and ankles.

This is a long routine, so perform the full routine if you have time. If not, do a portion now and a portion later. The muscle release work is in the beginning of the routine and the stretch and activation work after. In this routine you will perform 3 muscle/fascia release techniques, 3 end-range stretch isometric techniques, and many activation and range of motion movements. Your body is going to feel amazing after this extended routine!

Hips, Shoulders & Back: June 4

Flex Friday, it’s go time. Today we are flexing the fact that you are giving your body exactly what it needs to perform at it’s best, so that you can feel your best. We are also flexing your hip external and internal rotator, and low back and core muscles while we stretch them out of course. Have an amazing MV session and Friday!

Equipment needed: 1. Padded Mat (optional). Today is all about the 90/90 position. We are going to open up and activate your hip internal and external rotators as well as other muscles. We are working on the flexibility, mobility, and stability of the hips and low back.

We are starting off with 90/90 eccentrics with end-range stretch holds. Your goal is to lower very slow and controlled. Make sure you continue to drive your front leg into the ground as you lower. The movement is great for stretching and increasing activation in your gluteus muscles and rotators such as your piriformis. Next we are working on 90/90 torso rotations. Try to stay as upright as possible and really feel all of the muscles around your midsection get activated. We are finishing up with 90/90 side bend holds. Your goal is to squeeze the muscles on one side of your torso as the other side stretches out.

Flow: June 3

Welcome back. You are doing amazing! In order to feel your best and perform at your highest level, no matter what your goals are, consistency is key. You are your own boss, and thus answer to yourself. Check in with yourself today and ask yourself if your actions are aligning with your goals? If they are, amazing! If not, it’s time to make some adjustments. If you don’t have goals, take some time after this routine to think through some goals. Have fun!

Equipment needed: 1. Padded mat. Today is a Flow Day!